DIEGO VELAZQUEZ : SANTA RUFINA

Is this picture representing Santa Rufina, the martyr patron of the city of Seville (Spain) a real Velazquez or some painting by the Velazquez School ? Don't ask the people from Seville because if you doubt its provenance they will kill you. To keep in their beloved city their beloved Santa they followed last year the lead of the Duchess of Alba (yes the same family as the infamous Duke who slaughtered the Dutch Protestants in the 16th century) who gave $1500 to a campaign in favor of the purchase of this picture that was put on auction by Sotheyby's in 2007 as a Velazquez (made in 1628-29).

Sevillans poured money to a special fund created to help the Focus-Abengoa Foundation to get hold of the picture. And it did for the princely sum of $ 17 million. So the Sevillans would be really pissed off if you raised some serious doubts about its authenticity. Nevertheless it is exactly what did some experts just after the last bid at the auction. They pointed to the poor quality of the light on the picture, to the lousy drawing of the right hand of the Santa, to her missing left arm and to the lack of facial features and so on.

In 1990 the Santa had been sold by Christie's as a Velazquez to an unknown buyer for $ 8.9 million. Even at this time the attribution was questioned. Seventeen years later, the lucky buyer of the 90s found more enthusiastic people to pass the Santa on and pocketed a huge profit.

In the end everybody was happy, the initial acquirer of the 90s who doubled his money, the city and the people of Sevilla who got their Santa and Christie's people who took their fee. It would be interesting to know what Velazquez in his grave makes of this sale : a fake or a genuine painting ? Leave a comment to tell me what you think....

Velázquez (or Velásquez), Diego (1599-1660). Spain's greatest painter was also one of the supreme artists of all time. A master of technique, highly individual in style, Diego Velasquez may have had a greater influence on European art than any other painter.

Diego Rodriguez de Silva Velasquez was born in Seville, Spain, presumably shortly before his baptism on June 6, 1599. His father was of noble Portuguese descent. In his teens he studied art with Francisco Pacheco, whose daughter he married. The young Velasquez once declared, "I would rather be the first painter of common things than second in higher art."

An other Velazquez, Antonio Gonzalez, earned a century later (1723-1793) a reputation as one of the most talented Spanish painters of his generation. In 1746 he was awarded a grant from the committee of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando to study the Old Masters in Rome, and was appointed to the workshop of Corrado Giaquinto.

He also painted several decorative works for the Palacio Real, and was appointed Court Painter by King Fernando VI of Spain in 1756, who admired the artist's characteristic freedom of execution and brilliant use of colour.

However it would be a mistake to think that his work can fetch the same prices as the ones of his more famous predecessor. In July 2008, this Pentecost: a bozzetto * -an oil on canvas 19 x 15 1/8 in. (48.3 x 38.4 cm.)- fetched only $ 20,995 on auction in London whereas it had been estimated to make between $ 15,000 and 23,000.

*Bozzetto (s., bozzetti, pl.) is a specific type of study or sketch. To be a bozzetto the study and a resultant finished work (inspired by the bozzetto) must be done in the same medium. Bozzetti are generally small : they can be just sketches, exploratory in their character or they can be complete visual statements- a genuine artwork complete with an innate aesthetic.

GAUGUIN : THE "FAKE" FAUN

In 1994, a certain Mrs. Roscoe approached Christie's London with a small statue named the Faun, an unglazed stoneware figure supposed to have been made by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903 ) from a self-portrait (picture to the right). Mrs Roscoe had an invoice stating that the Faun was bought in 1917 from a Paris Gallery by a certain Roderick O'Conor, an artist friend of Gauguin. So she started a frenzy of speculation that "this" would be the opportunity of the century : a Faun made by Gauguin from a self-portrait posing as model. Nobody saw the irony of it or tried to think twice : there was an invoice dating back to 1917, there was the name of O'Conor, this great friend of Gauguin and there was such grace in this little faun mimicking Gauguin, it was irresistible.

So Christie's dived for it and put the Faun on auction in November 1994 : it was sold to the London dealer John Pillar for £ 20,700 ($32,500). Three years later, the statue was spooted in John Pillar's collection by the curator of the Art Institute of Chicago (whose name I won't publish by compassion for this poor man) who became keen on buying it. After some more research and horse-trading, Pillar generously consented to part with the Faun-looking-like-Gauguin for the modest sum of $ 125,000, ie a profit of $105,000 in less than three years.

Everything went well to the greatest satisfaction of every expert and museum in the world until Scotland Yard recently revealed that the Faun was a fake made by a family of forgers named Greenhalgh and living quietly in Northern England near Manchester. Mrs Roscoe was nobody else than the mother of the forger Shaun Greenhalgh. Over several decades they have forged documents, copied and sold Art works to the planet in total impunity. Dozens of complaints were however filed to Scotland Yard who never did anything about it. Why ? Shaun Greenhalgh was sentenced to four years in jail.

REMBRANDT : ECCE HOMO

Rembrandt Harmenszon van Rijn, born 15 July 1606 in Leiden, was the youngest son of at least ten children, he left the University to study the fundamentals of painting with the Leiden artist Jacob Isaacsz. van Swanenburgh (1571-1638).

Rembrandt was enthusiastically praised by the secretary to the Prince of Orange, Constantijn Huygens (1596-1674) who admired particularly his ability to convey feeling through gesture and expression.

In 1663 a plague that ravaged Amsterdam claimed the life of his lifetime companion Hendrickje Stoffels . Four years later his son Titus married Madgalena van Loo (1642-1669), but the following year, in 1668, he also died, the victim of another plague epidemic. When Rembrandt died on 4 October 1669, he was buried in an unknown rented grave in the Westerkerk, Amsterdam.

The Latin title 'Ecce Homo' is taken from the Bible, and means 'Behold the man!' These words were said by Pontius Pilate during the trial of Jesus. Pilate presents Christ to the people, who, urged on by their priests, demand his execution, insisting that they have no king but Caesar. This monochrome work is called a grisaille, it is the preparatory study (1634) for an etching made by Rembrandt in 1635.

In 1972 Ecce Homo went for 32,000 Gns ($80,604) on auction. It is now the property of the National Gallery London.

PABLO PICASSO : VOLLARD SUITE

During his lifetime Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz y Picasso (1881-1973 ) created approximately 2000 prints in a variety of media ranging from etching, drypoint, lithograph, to linocut. The 100 remarkable etchings that make up the Vollard Suite are generally regarded as the finest of his achievements in printmaking. The Vollard Suite, created between 1930-37, was named after it publisher, the French art dealer and critic, Ambroise Vollard with whom Picasso had a long working relationship. The Suite itself comprises 73 sheets on five main themes; The Battle of Love, The Sculptors Studio, Rembrandt, The Minotaur and the Blind Minotaur. There are a further 27 sheets on disparate themes including 3 portraits of Ambroise Vollard (It is made up of 100 etchings and the entire suite comprises of 3 copies on parchment.Since an etching is considered the original work of an artist; there are a total of 303 original Vollard Suites. )

Chosen from a large volume of Pablo Picasso's graphic achievements, the Vollard Suite collection traces the erotic and passionate love affair between Pablo Picasso and Marie-Therese Walter, his model, and mistress. She captivated him and was the object of his "amour fou" (mad love). Pablo Picasso and Marie-Therese Walter met in 1927 and she soon became his inspiration for the Vollard Suite. Described as his "eternal" love, she was enraptured by Pablo Picasso.

Ambroise Vollard helped launch the careers of such respected artists as Renoir and Cezanne. He was a respected Paris picture dealer and publisher of limited-edition books, lithographs & etchings and his gallery was known as the centre for leading art figures in Paris and helped stimulate a new movement in art. The Vollard suite is one of the most internationally exhibited work of Art of the XXth century.

In 1972 the Collection went on auction for 90,000 Gns. ($226,800). The National Gallery of Australia is fortunate to have the entire suite in their gallery. It is unknown where all of the 303 (total copies from each format) of each etching are located. They are spread from museums to private collections and are considered to be some of the most highly desirable of all Picasso prints.

NIKI DE SAINT PHALLE : NANA ET CHIEN

French painter and sculptor Niki de Saint-Phalle, born Catherine-Marie-Agnès Fal de Saint Phalle ( 1930– 2002) was an extraordinary personality who rejected the bourgeoise values of her wealthy family background of Neuilly, France. As young as 16 she made the cover story of Life Magazine and four years later of Vogue as a model.

Her training was self taught and she was encouraged first by the American painter Hugh Weiss , later by the work of Antonio Gaudí and eventually by Swiss painter Jean Tinguely whom she finally married in 1971.

After meeting up with Tinguely, Marcel Duchamp introduced the pair to the Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí. De Saint Phalle later traveled to Spain with Tinguely in order to attend a celebration honoring Dalí. In 1961, she became known around the world for her Shooting paintings (below right) consisting of a wooden base board on which containers of paint were laid, then covered with plaster. The painting was then raised and de Saint Phalle would shoot at it with a .22 caliber rifle. The bullets penetrated paint containers which spilled their contents over the painting. During the 1960s, she also designed decors and costumes for two theatrical productions: a ballet by Roland Petit, and an adaptation of the Aristophanes play "Lysistrata."

Influenced by Gaudí´s Parc Güell in Barcelona, and the garden in Bomarzo, Saint Phalle decided that she wanted to make something similar; a monumental sculpture park created by a woman. In 1979, she acquired some land in Tuscany . The garden, called Giardino dei Tarocchi in Italian, contains sculptures of the symbols found on Tarot cards. The garden took many years, and a considerable sum of money, to complete. It opened in 1998, after more than 20 years of work.

Her works do not reach very high prices because they has always been very controversial and some say ugly. I disagree and consider that the Saint Phalle was a very inovative artist and her work is original, colourful and flamboyant. She was a woman of high charism and considerable stamina who was afraid of nothing and nobody.

This Nana et Chien (Nana and Dog)(1) is a painted polyester measuring 16 1/8in. (41cm.) in hight and executed in 1986 : this work is number one from an edition of ten and reached $43,000 in an auction sale by Christie's in London in October 2004.

NB : (1) The French word Nana is a slang word used to refer to a woman, generally in a slightly pejorative way